The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Thrust vectoring of a jet engine exhaust flow has typically required deflecting or rotating the entire exhaust nozzle outer flow path to generate non-axial forces that can be used to help create lift or to control flight and/or an attitude of an aircraft. Thrust vectoring has also involved using fluid flow control systems that are applied to the outer periphery of convergent-divergent exhaust nozzles for control of supersonic aircraft. However, the use of convergent-divergent nozzles would entail large performance penalties for subsonic aircraft that have either convergent exhaust nozzles or only slightly convergent-divergent exhaust nozzles. Thus, present day flow control systems are generally limited in application to supersonic aircraft.
Different types of aircraft may also require particularly complex flight control systems to achieve needed degrees of maneuverability and control. For example, aircraft of the “flying wing” type or aircraft making use of a hybrid wing often make use of canards or empennages. However, such structures often add significant weight to the aircraft, and may require a significant amount of secondary power to be used with the flight control system. A more effective system for controllably generating non-axial forces that can be used to control the attitude and/or flight of an aircraft, and which can be implemented on both supersonic and subsonic aircraft, would be highly desirable.